Son of the Lioness: Alan's Story
by LadyKnightOfHollyrose
Summary: The title says it all... Alan of pirate's Swoops journey...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Aly? Aly, hurry up! I have to leave in the next two minutes!"

There was a brief silence as Alan of Pirate's Swoop tapped his foot on the floor impatiently. He went over his saddlebags once more to make sure that he had packed absolutely everything. Satisfied, Alan turned his full attention back to the impending delay.

"Aly!"

Running a restless hand through his reddish-blond hair, his eyes scanning his home - he would not see it for at least a year if not more, and wanted to secure its current state in his mind; no doubt it would look at least slightly different when he returned. Spotting one of the many concealed passages, Alan grinned. He and his twin had been hiding there not too long ago with their faces covered in blue-berry stains. (No seriously – the last time had only been about a month ago..!)

There was a deafening clatter as Alianne stumbled down the stairs. Her hair, the same shade as her brother's, was tied back to prevent it from blocking her view. They (Aly and Alan) gazed at each other a moment; hazel-green blinking black into hazel-green. Aly was the first to look away as she fumbled with the ties of her bag.

Trying not to grin, Alan scolded his sister for taking so long when he was already pressed for time as it was – he sounded exactly like Ma when she was about to leave to go on one of her great and noble deeds.

"The only reason that I took so long was that I was getting _this _for you." From her bag she produced a small red velvet pouch. Eyeing it curiously, Alan tugged it open.

Inside was a piece of black thread tied in the same way a necklace should be; with a small black square of material (which seemed to be filled with what was suspiciously like flour) attached to it. Traces of black magic sparkled at the edges of his vision. Alan glanced at his twin, eyebrows raised in puzzled astonishment.

"This," she explained "is a small 'good-luck' present that me and Uncle Numy have been working on."

Alan smiled at the mention of the childhood name – now at thirteen he tried to use Numair's proper name but habits were hard to break and even _he_ slipped up sometimes.

"What does it do?"

"It'll help you see in the dark, when magic is used and generally more clearly than you would usually be able to see."

Thanking her, Alan put it around his neck – instantly colours became sharper and more focused. Things that were usually out of his sight range became visible.

As Alan mounted his mare, Ginger, Aly's hand plunged back into the depths of her bag. From it, she withdrew an envelope, neatly addressed to their older brother.

"Make sure that you give this to Thom," Aly ordered "and tell him that I want proper replies this year." At the age of fifteen, Thom was studying in the University of Corus. Although he was extremely concerned about his studies, unlike his namesake, he occasionally escaped the sea of his books that dominated the majority of his university chambers to catch a little sun every now and again.

"Speaking of which I expect letters from **_you_** too. I need some form of entertainment since my two personal jesters have decided to desert me!" Alianne gave a dramatic sigh before reaching up to give her brother a hug.

"Don't get into too much trouble – you know that Ma'll find out straight away from Maude when she gets back from the boarder" warned Alan.

"As if I could avoid it! Trouble practically _stalks_ me! And you too." She added as an afterthought. "Besides, Da'll have my ears if he hears of anything."

"Da'll have Vern's ears if he hears how late he is – it's probably a good thing that he's not here at the moment…"

After about five minutes of Aly muttering darkly about the fuss that Alan had 'kicked up a fuss' as she put it, Vern finally arrived.

"Why are you so late? D'you know what she" he jabbed a finger at the accused; "put me through?"

Alianne's smile was almost sickly sweet as Vern only raised an eyebrow – after knowing the pair of them for the whole of their lives; he was quite used to their antics.

"If you _must_ know, my mother _insisted _on going through my saddlebags several times, stuffing most of the contents of any room into any free space that she could find (regardless of whether I actually **_needed_** it) and made me sit through at least 10 different prayers for good-lick, protection and only the gods know what else!"

Alan grinned at this – he knew just how religious Vern's mother, the area's priestess, was.

Mounting his own horse, Vern trotted towards the gates of the Swoop.

"Come and visit me at the palace." Alan demanded.

"Maybe… We'll see how I feel. In the meantime _you_ have to write to me – and not just for the sake of being able to use long words in mile long sentences that can be described in two syllables." said Aly, referring to Thom's scholarly habits.

With a last word of goodbye, Alan turned Ginger around to join Vern at the gates. Glancing over his shoulder, Alan sighed.

'And so my journey begins…'

-Hollyrose-

* * *

R&R please! 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank you for the reviews everyone - and a HUGE thank you to Merrybeansfor BETAing the chapter! And I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

Chapter 2 

After a two day journey and a night's stay at an inn, Alan and Vern arrived at the gates of Corus.

Although Alan had wanted to see Thom at the Royal University, he was required to go straight to the palace to begin his page training – a visit to his brother would have to wait until later.

As they grew closer to the palace, Vern and Alan grew steadily quieter until over time, they lapsed into silence.

They drew to a halt as they approached the palace. Vern's eyes grew wide (he had only ever been to Corus once and even then, he had roamed around the city with his friends that lived in the local area) as Alan paused at the gate looking slightly confused.

The older boy cleared his throat, clearly eager to enter.

"Sorry." Alan apologised, "I was just wondering when everything got so _small_…"

"Small?" asked Vern in disbelief, "You're calling _this_ small!" He waved his hands towards the palace causing passers by to have to swerve out of the way to remain unharmed.

"Well, I was a lot shorter last time I came…" Alan muttered defensively.

"Sometimes I have to wonder whetherwhat you're short of is your wits" Vern retorted playfully. Giving his companion a nudge, he continued, "Now if we could actually go _inside_?"

Handing over their mounts to one of the trainee hostlers, Alan scanned their surroundings - looking for the familiar faces that he had expected to see. To his disappointment, he found none. Approaching one of the stable hands, he inquired after Stefan, a family friend. In response the trainees mumbled something about a wounded horse, and Alan racked his brain for another person that might be in the stables. Suddenly, arriving at the palace without someone older was a little overwhelming.

"What about Daine?" he asked of the girl trainee. She blinked, completely perplexed.

'Veralidaine Sarrasri,' repeated Alan.

The girl's face turned to one of surprise and she shook her head. 'We don't know the movements of such important courtiers, sir. We're only stable hands.' Alan let the girl go, and later discovered that Daine had flown north just the night before he arrived.

Drawing away from the stables, Vern and Alan decided on a course of action.

"We can go to Lord Raoul first and then we'll see the training master. I think we've got at least half a bell until we need to see him," said Vern confidently. However, his confidence seemed to have been left out back in the city; as they neared the knight commander's office, he grew uneasy and nervous, his eyes twitching at every sight. Following Alan, he found himself facing a large door. Vern decided that he'd changed his mind. Maybe he didn't want to be a part of the King's Own anymore…

Before he had the chance to turn, Alan was already knocking on the door. No, there was no going back now. The door was thrown open to a large man known as the 'Giant Killer'.

"Alan!" he grinned and clasped his adoptive-nephew's shoulder, ruffling his hair (since he enjoyed Alan's annoyance – particularly when there was nothing he could do to stop him). "What brings you here? You've finally decided to grace the crown with your services? However clumsy they may be," he added to Vern with a wicked smile. Vern ventured for a small, nervous smile as Alan just rolled his eyes.

"Something like that. Anyway, it's not _my_ services that we're here to discuss."

"Oh?" Raoul raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you come in and we'll discuss in more detail?"

After twenty minutes of conversations, Vern had been happily accepted into the Own. He was about to walk away with Captain Flyndan when he remembered his duty to Alan. After staying with him long enough to make sure that he was settled, Vern felt that he should do the same for Alan.

Alan brushed away Vern's protests – he could take care of himself (according to him, at least). In the end, Alan had silenced his friend;

"I doubt that you'd be allowed inside anyway…"

That settled, Alan rushed towards the training master's office – after all, tardiness would give the wrong impression and it would be a shame to start his training on a negative note.

Just as his name was being called out, Alan scrambled over to the wooden door. Taking deep breaths to steady his racing pulse, Alan pushed. The door swung open to reveal the man who would be responsible for the next eight years of Alan's life.

The training master: Lord Padraig haMinch.

-Hollyrose-

* * *

Reviews would be appreciated! 


End file.
